Hope Fading
by WhoMakesIt
Summary: A young arctic fox, Brooks Lagor, has been an orphan since the age of three. His life had been an endless series of pain since then. Something changes that. But how can someone who has only known pain for so long adapt to such a change?


**Chaos is afoot! Get ready for quite the ride!**

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 **Chapter 1**

 **Brooks POV**

I slowly opened my eyes, only to find myself on the hard, cold floor of the Tundra Town orphanage. I blinked the sleep from my eyes and took in the surroundings I passed out in the previous night. I had been exhausted by all the chores Mr. Lynard made me do.

I'm getting too far ahead. My name is Brooks Lagor, I'm a seven year old arctic fox. I live in the Tundra Town orphanage, because my parents died in a car crash on my third birthday. I was in the car with them, but I was the only survivor. Despite how young I was, I can still remember that day.

 _Four years prior..._

I gazed at my reflection in the window of my parents' car to my left. It was a quite dazzling thing to me. I could see myself outside the car! As I puzzled at my reflection, my mother spoke to me from the front of the car, "So, honey, how are you enjoying your birthday so far?"

I snapped my attention to her and squeaked joyously, "It's great!"

I heard my dad speak from the driver seat, "You want to go for some ice cream, now?"

I smiled wide, "Yeah!"

Mom giggled and turned her back to me once again. We continued down the street for a few moments. My parents wanted to throw a party for me, but I had no friends or family. The only family I had, that I knew of, anyway, were my parents. They loved me with all their hearts, and I loved them, as well. They did so much to make me happy. I would've been more sad at the time about not having friends, though, but I was too young to understand loneliness. I wasn't a very social child. I mostly stuck to my parents and was quite shy around anybody else.

I heard my parents talking about some adult things in the front. Things about some of their friends, their jobs, finances, nothing interesting to me. After a few more moments of driving, my mother suddenly shouted at my dad, pointing out the driver side window, "ROBERT, LOOK OU-"

She was cut off by a loud screeching noise. My body was then jerked to the right as the car was slammed into by another at full speed. The car flew to the right for a moment before making impact with the ground and flipping several times before stopping. When the car stopped moving, I fell to the roof, as the car was upside down. I lay there for a few moments, trying to fully comprehend what had just happened. Pieces of broken glass littered the surface I lay upon. I try to push myself up with one arm, but as I did, I felt a sharp pain pulse from my right arm and the right side of my torso, underneath my ribcage. I turned to look at my arm to see that it was twisted at an odd angle. I winced at the sight and then looked down at my torso. Right underneath my ribcage on the right side, a large piece of broken glass jutted out from within me. There was blood soaking my shirt and the fur underneath. I nearly wretched at the sight. I began to let out soft sobs, but they became louder with each passing second, as it hurt to breathe. I laid my head back against the roof of the car and felt the fur on the back of my head become wet. Something began soaking into the fur and I turned around to examine the surface underneath my head. What I saw was blood, lots of blood. The pool underneath my head continued to expand, until it began to soak my clothes.

I cried out, "Mommy! Daddy! Help me!"

Silence...

I slowly raised my eyes to see if my parents were even listening. What I saw made me shake in horror and shock. What I saw... were two broken... twisted... shattered... unmoving bodies. One was hanging from the seat belt, the other was laying on the roof of the car, like me. My eyes settled on my dad, first. He was the one laying on the roof, along with me. His left arm was halfway torn off, blood pouring out of the gaping wound where his arm was almost completely severed. I also took notice of the several shards of glass jutting out of his neck and torso. His jaw was at an extremely awkward angle, one that almost made me spit up my lunch.

I slowly raised my gaze to my mother, who was hanging from her seat by the seat belt. She obviously took less of the impact, but it was still a terrible sight to see. Her neck had obviously been snapped in the crash, as her head was hanging at an odd angle, blood spilling out of her mouth. Her left arm was basically shattered. And both of her legs were clearly broken, jutting every which way.

I heard sirens in the distance as my tears became more intense, "M-Mommy?... Daddy?..."

No response...

"No..."

The sirens became louder with each passing moment, along with my desperate sobs.

"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!"

After a few moments, I heard tires screech to a stop, and two doors open and close. Pawsteps began approaching the destroyed car.

"PLEASE WAKE UP!..."

The two mammals neared the vehicle quickly.

"Mommy! Daddy! P... Please!"

I heard the two mammals stop by the car and kneel down to see the inside. The first mammal to peer inside was a snow leopard. Upon seeing me, he reached inside and grabbed me.

I struggled in his grasp, "NO! Let go of me! Help Mommy and Daddy! They're hurt! Please! Help them!"

The snow leopard spoke to his partner, a doe. She inspected the two adult foxes for a moment before looking up at her partner with a despaired expression, and shaking her head.

The snow leopard nodded in understanding and began to carry me away, "We need to get this kid to a hospital. He has a wound in his lower torso, and he's losing blood."

I struggled with all my strength, but to no avail. The snow leopard would not let go. My struggles eased off and morphed into desperate wails, "NO! Please save Mommy and Daddy! Please save them! Why aren't we taking them with?! Go get them! They need help!"

The snow leopard opened up the back doors of an ambulance and placed me on the gurney inside. He got in with me and closed the doors. He laid me down on the gurney with gentle paws and wiped my tears with one paw, gazing at me with a sympathetic expression, eyes glistening.

"I'm sorry"

I looked at him in confusion, "Wh-What?... No... You have to-"

I felt a grinding sensation on my side, followed by a sharp, agonizing pain. I shrieked loudly. The ambulance then began moving. I looked at the feline to see that he was holding a large piece of broken glass. Though, my vision was blurred by tears, I almost screamed upon seeing the size of the shard of glass that had pierced my flesh.

I then decided to address the situation, tears still flowing, "Why are we moving?! Where are Mommy and Daddy?!"

The snow leopard sighed somberly, "Kid... They're not coming..."

I began to sob hopelessly, "What does that mean?!"

He took a deep breath, "... They're gone, kid."

I wailed, "I don't understand! They said they would always be with me! They said they would never leave me!"

As he applied pressure to my wound, he spoke as gently as he possibly could, "They'll be with you... they will."

I tried desperately to understand, "But you just said that they're gone! If there gone, how can they be here?! If I'll never see them again, how can they be here?!"

He remained silent as he treated my wound...

... Because he couldn't answer.

 _Present day..._

I felt tears well up in my eyes as I relived the painful memory. When they died, I was put in this dreadful place, because nobody would take me in at the time. This orphanage has been the ongoing antagonistic force in my life for the past four years. Everyone was mean to me. They were always teasing me, calling me names, beating me up, locking me up in closets, making me do all their chores. It wasn't just the kids who bullied me, though. No, even the supervisors had their fair share of fun, torturing me. They would beat me, deprive me of food, make me sleep on the floor, etc. The list goes on for a mile.'

I lifted myself slowly off of the floor and stretched my aching back. I began walking to the door, but I didn't even make it half way there before I felt a hard shove on my right side, sending me tumbling to the floor.

"Good morning, Shorty! How are you feeling?"

I turned to see the worst of all the kid bullies, Tyler Cubbin. He was a grizzly bear, much bigger and stronger than me. He was also Mr. Lynard's favorite, making it okay for him to do whatever he wanted to me. Come to think of it: pretty much anybody in this place can do whatever they want to me, whenever they want, and nobody will do a thing about it.

I shrank back in fear, "Um... I... I-I"

He cut me off, "Shut up, Shorty. I don't care how you're feeling. Nobody does."

'Shorty' was what everyone in the orphanage called me. It was true, I was short for my age and species. I was seven years old and only two feet, two inches tall. I had always hoped that I would get bigger... someday. But, unfortunately, that day seemed as though it would never come.

Tyler walked up to me and kicked me, hard, in the ribs. I whimpered in pain, tears building up, as his claws tore through my flesh and blood began dripping onto the floor beneath me.

I heard laughter around me, as more of the kids were waking up due to the commotion. I looked around, sobbing, to see everyone pointing, laughing, and calling me names like 'loser', 'idiot', and the classic, 'Shorty'.

My ears perked up as the sound of the door opening became apparent. I looked at the bedroom's main door to see the door swing open quickly, and Mr. Lynard stuck his head inside.

"Kids! Breakfast is rea-"

He trailed off upon seeing me, blood dripping from me. He approached me and Tyler slowly, "What happened here?!"

Tyler looked Mr. Lynard in the eyes, pointed at me, and lied through his teeth, "I was just going towards the door when Shorty here ran up to me and tried to bite me. I was just defending myself, sir."

Mr. Lynard's eyes widened, and the lynx's gaze settled on me, rage burning in his expression, "Starting fights, are we?!"

I shook my head frantically, tears still flowing, "N-No, sir. I-I wasn't-"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Mr. Lynard shouted at the top of his lungs. I tried to get up, but he kicked me back down, "Don't you move! I'll be right back."

He walked out of the room, leaving me, sobbing softly on the ground, with the other kids all snickering and whispering amongst themselves, glancing at me in amusement every now and then. Mr. Lynard returned a few moments later with a bucket full of water. He carried the bucket over to me and slammed it down on my right paw.

I shrieked in pain, and the room filled with hysterical laughter. Mr. Lynard glared at me with hatred, "I'm gonna go eat breakfast with everyone else, who _deserves_ it. You are going to stay here and clean this mess up! I'll be back in fifteen minutes, and if I see so much as a little _drop_ left over, you don't get any dinner! Got it?!"

I tried to stop the tears that were pouring from my eyes, but to no avail, "Y-Y-Yes, M-Mr. Lynard."

He huffed and turned towards the other kids, "I _apologize_ to everyone who hasn't been causing trouble. This little _delinquent_ has ruined what could've been a good morning. So, you may all come and eat breakfast, now."

Everyone cheered, "Yay!"

They all ran out the door, followed by Mr. Lynard, who paused for a moment to look at me, beaten and crying while cleaning up my own blood off of the floor. I looked up at him with pleading eyes. He smiled, obviously pleased with himself.

He growled before walking out, " _Fifteen minutes_ , you'd better hurry."

Upon hearing that, I grew fearful of what might happen to me if I didn't do a good enough job. I took a sponge out of the bucket and began scrubbing my blood as quickly as I could. There was quite a lot of blood, so it wasn't very easy to just scrub it up. I had to get the floor all wet to mix the blood with the water so that the sponge could soak it up. After a few minutes of repeating this process over and over, I heard a commotion downstairs. I got an instinctual feeling to go see what was happening, but I decided against it.

' _I would get in big trouble if they saw me_.' I thought

I continued scrubbing, but the noise only got louder. My curiosity got the better of me and I left the sponge and bucket on the floor to go see what was happening. I lightly ran down the hall to the staircase. I hopped down the stairs to see that there were two wolves that I had never seen before speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Lynard, with Tyler standing right next to the two felines.

' _Is there an adoption this early in the day?!_ ' I wondered.

I saw Mrs. Lynard turn to Mr. Lynard and speak up, "You should go and help Tyler pack his things up, I'll get these two fine mammals the paperwork."

Mr. Lynard smiled at his wife, "Got it, hon."

He pecked her lightly on the lips and tapped Tyler's shoulder, "Come on, Tyler. Let's go pack up your things."

Tyler giddily followed as Mr. Lynard began walking towards the staircase.

I ran back up the stairs in fear and to the bedroom. I dropped to the floor by the bucket and sponge and began scrubbing just in time for Mr. Lynard to enter the room with Tyler following.

The lynx scoffed upon seeing me. I looked up at him to see his eyes slowly widen, and an evil grin to appear on his face. I shrank back in fear. He looked over and Tyler and spoke in a frightening tone, "Say, Tyler. Do you think you'd want to take a memento? So as to remember all of the good times you've had here?"

He looked over at me, and gave the same evil grin, "Yes, sir. I sure would."

Mr. Lynard chuckled maliciously and walked out, "I'll be right back."

Once he was gone, Tyler laughed, "I just got adopted, Shorty. That's something you'll never get: A family. Nobody will ever adopt you. You're just a dumb, short, untrustworthy fox.

I began to cry softly at his words, and he laughed, "Awww. What's the matter? Did I hurt wittle Shorty's feewings?"

He laughed for another moment before Mr. Lynard returned with a pair of pliers in his right paw. I tilted my head in confusion as to what he would need pliers for. The lynx looked at Tyler and gestured towards me, "Come on, let's get your memento."

Tyler perked up and followed Mr. Lynard as he approached me. The feline kicked me in the face, sending me flying backwards. I landed with a grunt of pain. I sobbed lightly as the two approached me slowly. Mr. Lynard kneeled down to my shaking form and held me down. He brought his paws up to my mouth and forcefully pried my jaws open with his paws.

He growled, "Don't scream too loud, or we're doing another one later."

' _Another what?! What is he doing?!_ ' I wondered, panicking.

He brought the pliers up and latched it onto one of my sharp teeth. I struggled in his grasp, tears pouring from my eyes.

I couldn't say anything, I could only make gargling noises as he began to pull on the tooth, causing an agonizing pain to begin coursing through me. I heard Tyler laughing hysterically behind Mr. Lynard. The lynx continued to pull on my tooth. With every second he pulled, the more pain I felt. After a few moments, the tooth ripped free from my gums and blood began pouring from the opening, to the back of my throat.

Mr. Lynard brought the tooth up to his face and examined it thoroughly. He chuckled and Tyler held out his paw. Mr. Lynard dropped the tooth in his paw and they shared a laugh. The two then got up, went over to the closet, and packed up Tyler's things. They left the room and I was all alone once more.

If there was a limit to how much a mammal could cry, I would have reached it a long time ago.

I lay on my back, sobbing, wishing someone would just take the pain away.

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 **Hello everyone. I know this chapter was a short one, but they'll get longer, I assure you. This chapter was just an introduction to the story. I hope you all liked it.**

 **Peace!**


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